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In the first controlled clinical trial of nicotinamide riboside (NR), a newly discovered form of Vitamin B3, researchers have shown that the compound is safe for humans and increases levels of a cell metabolite called NAD+ that is critical for cellular energy production and protection against stress and DNA damage.

Levels of NAD+ (first discovered by biochemists in 1906) diminish with age, and it has been suggested that loss of this metabolite may play a role in age-related health decline.

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President Obama said Tuesday that he wants private companies to help send humans to Mars by the 2030s.

Obama first said in 2010 he wanted to send astronauts “to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth” by the mid-2030s with “a landing on Mars” to follow. In that speech at the Kennedy Space Center, Obama added that he expected to see such a landing in his lifetime.

In an opinion article Tuesday on CNN.com, Obama said private companies would be key to those lofty goals.

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Just in case u did not know. Photosynthesis is the most efficient way of producing electricity. Once this process is understood an replicated it will change the world.

Scientists at Imperial College London have discovered a feedback mechanism at the heart of photosynthesis that protects plants from damage by light.

The researchers have discovered that the key enzyme in photosynthesis can tune its activity to avoid being damaged by light and oxygen.

Knowing how photosynthesis is regulated and protected could allow scientists to improve the process, potentially making agriculture and food production more efficient.

Continue reading “Researchers discover feedback mechanism in photosynthesis that protects plants from damage” | >

As reported by the AP, President Obama Mars op-ed published at CNN today paints a vivid picture in which NASA — working in concert with other agencies and private industry — would sometime after 2030 finally make an expedition to the planet Mars. But is the Barack Obama Mars vision for NASA a tangible possibility, or will Elon Musk and SpaceX beat NASA to Mars long before that?

US President Obama says US is partnering with private firms to send humans to Mars by 2030s – CNN https://t.co/qc9rNIsW3V

— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) October 11, 2016

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The European Space Agency has teamed up with Russia’s Roscosmos program to land a spacecraft on Mars on Wednesday, October 19.

If they stick the landing, they’ll join NASA as the only space agencies in history to successfully land a spacecraft on Mars. And that will only be the beginning — the lander will then start a whole new quest to search for signs of life on the Red Planet.

If the landing is a success, it will actually see the agencies put one spacecraft up into Mars’s atmosphere, and one onto its surface, giving scientists a rare opportunity to record conditions above and below the planet simultaneously.

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Scientists in Japan have used cardiac muscle cells derived from the stem cells of a macaque to mend the damaged hearts of five other monkeys.

The technique shows that using donor stem cells might one day be a viable way to regenerate the organs of human heart attack patients – an approach that could dramatically reduce the time and expense of developing individualised stem cell treatments.

While using stem cell therapy to treat conditions like heart problems isn’t new, the technique usually involves cultivating stem cells taken from the patient themselves – which can be very expensive.

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